History and origin
The Corsican painted frog was first described by Lanza, Nascetti, Capula and Bullini in 1984, the scientific name of this species is Discoglossus montalentii. Discoglossus comes from Greek and is composed of two words, the first meaning 'disc' and the second meaning 'tongue', this name is given because of their disc-like tongue. Montalentii is this species second name because the authors dedicated this frog to Pr. Giuseppe Montalenti.

Characteristics
They are the only Discoglossus frog of France to strictly only call from under the water.

Description
=Size=
- Eggs: The eggs measure about 5 mm in diameter.
- Tadpoles: The tadpoles measure 35 mm long maximum.
- Juveniles: The juveniles measure 8 mm long at least when they exit the water.
- Adults: Adults measure up to 65 mm long (males max.: 62 mm ; females max.: 55 mm).
=Morphology=
- Eggs: They are laid in separate balls in small clutches of up to 50 eggs. Total eggs laid is up to 1500.
- Tadpoles: Tail doesn't come on top of the back. The tail is about 1.5 times the body length. Eyes are almost on the back, they are very close to one another. Tail ends rounded, but the tadpoles of this species has a more pointed tail then Discoglossus sardus.
- Adults: They are similar to D.sardus, so much that they have been confused with that species up until only 1984. They are a small, robust frog with long legs and blunt toes, no paratoid glands and round pupils. They have a flattened head which makes their eyes seem prominent. Their skin is quite smooth with oblong type warts sometimes aligned as if it was a broken up line. They also lack vocal sacs.
=Patterns & colours=
- Eggs: They are small black embryos inside a transparent casing.
- Tadpoles: They are uniform dark brown. The tail is light.
- Adults: They have irregular blotches which stand out by being a darker shade of their background colour which is usually gray, brownish, sometimes reddish. Some specimens can be uniform gray. There is always a light line or bar linking the two eyes together, this line passes on top of the head. Their eyes are darker on the lower half and light golden colour on the upper half. The belly is whitish or yellowish.

Geographical range
They are only found on Corsica.

Subspecies
None described.

Sexual differences
Males of this species are, as a contrast to other amphibian male/female comparison, larger then the females. Males have smoother skin then the females and have dark nuptial pads on the first two fingers as well as on the inside of the third finger. They also have dark patches on the throat, chest and on the toes. Females and young specimens have 1/4 average webbing of their hind feet, whereas males have up to 3/4 webbing when they are sexually matured.

Seasonal variations
The darkness of the nuptial pads described in 'sexual differences' varies in function with the breeding season, being darker during that period.

Diet
They feeds on any insects that they come across, on ground and in the water. Spiders are commonly eaten.

Defensive habits
When they feel threatened they flee and try to hide in the closest place. If they are in the water then the dive and submerge themselves into the mud of dense vegetation or under rocks.

Reproduction
The breeding season starts in early spring, lasting sometimes all until June. The excited male jumps around all over the place and waits for a female to appear near the water. Once he spots a female he jumps onto her back and holds onto her at the waist. He seems to tightly squeeze the females belly, this after 10 to 15 seconds seems to help the ejection of the eggs. The eggs then come out 20 to 50 at a time. On their way out the fall through the sperm ejected by the male just before and then land to the bottom of the water. The eggs are laid in preference in shallow water.

Sexual maturity, life span
The average life span for Discoglossus montalentii is not known, they reach their sexual maturity is also uncertain.

Habits
Poorly known due to this species only being declared in 1984. Possibly similar to D.sardus.

Call
More musical then other species of its family, they sound like B.variegata, they call only when underwater unlike the other species of Discoglossus. the call sounds like: 'poop...poop...poop' the frequency is low, sound (p)www.oreilleverte.com:

Habitat
They are found from 40 to 2000 m in altitude, in southern Corsica this species lay their eggs in almost exclusively natural water holes such as rivers, fresh streams and other mountainous water holes typically with a stone bottom. They are more common in forest water holes.

Predators
They are hunted by sangliers, Grass snake (Natrix natrix), Western whip snake (Hierophis viridiflavus), birds, Corsican brook newt (Euproctus montanus), fish and aquatic insects.